First Trust Advisors LP Purchases Shares of 448,091 Uniti Group Inc. $UNIT

First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new position in Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 448,091 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $4,203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Uniti Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. KBC Group NV bought a new position in shares of Uniti Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Uniti Group by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 10,511 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 1,795 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in Uniti Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $72,000. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in shares of Uniti Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $78,000. 87.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Uniti Group Stock Performance

Shares of Uniti Group stock opened at $10.05 on Wednesday. Uniti Group Inc. has a one year low of $5.30 and a one year high of $12.94. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $11.16 and its 200 day moving average is $9.92.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.45) by ($0.23). Uniti Group had a negative return on equity of 133.07% and a net margin of 28.68%.The firm had revenue of $909.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.82 million. Analysts predict that Uniti Group Inc. will post -1.65 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNIT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Uniti Group from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Uniti Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Uniti Group from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Uniti Group from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $12.00 price target on Uniti Group in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.92.

About Uniti Group

Uniti Group Inc is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and acquires communications infrastructure assets across the United States. Established in September 2015 through a spin-off from Windstream Holdings, Uniti Group focuses on leasing fiber, small cell networks, cell towers and related infrastructure to service providers, wireless carriers and other enterprises requiring high-capacity connectivity. The company’s assets are designed to support the growing data demands of residential, business and governmental customers, with an emphasis on long-term contractual lease arrangements.

Uniti’s portfolio encompasses an extensive fiber network that spans metropolitan and rural markets, as well as a portfolio of wireless towers and small cell nodes that facilitate mobile network densification and help carriers deploy 5G services.